This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Seat assemblies such as those used in automotive vehicles typically include a series of adjustment mechanisms that allow a user to move the seat assembly relative to the vehicle. Such mechanisms allow a user to position the seat assembly into a comfortable position and/or to gain access to an area behind the seat assembly, which may contain additional rows of seating and/or a cargo compartment of the vehicle.
One such adjustment mechanism includes a series of tracks attached to the vehicle and a series of slide mechanisms attached to a seat bottom of the seat assembly. The slide mechanisms are slidably received within the tracks to allow the seat assembly to selectively move relative to the tracks and in a fore/aft direction relative to the vehicle generally towards and away from an instrument panel of the vehicle. Moving the seat assembly towards the instrument panel improves accessibility to an area behind the seat assembly while concurrently moving the seat assembly closer to the controls of the vehicle. Conversely, moving the seat assembly away from the instrument panel moves the seat assembly away from the controls of the vehicle but affords a vehicle occupant with additional space and therefore accommodates occupants of different sizes and heights.
While conventional adjustment assemblies allow fore/aft movement of a seat assembly relative to a vehicle, such adjustment assemblies do not always return to a locked state upon release of an actuation handle. For example, conventional adjustment assemblies include a pin biased into engagement with a track, whereby the pin may be received within one of a series of apertures formed in the track to positively lock a position of the seat assembly relative to the track and, thus, relative to a vehicle. When the actuation handle is actuated, the pin is disengaged from the track to permit fore/aft adjustment of the seat assembly relative to the vehicle. When the actuation handle is released, the pin is biased towards the track and will prevent movement of the seat assembly relative to the track once the pin engages an aperture of the track. However, while the pin adequately prevents movement of the seat assembly relative to the track when the pin properly seats within an aperture formed in the track, the pin may be positioned between a pair of apertures when the actuation handle is initially released and will therefore not lock the seat assembly relative to the track upon release of the actuation handle. The pin, in fact, does not lock until the seat assembly is moved either in the fore or aft direction relative to the track to allow the pin to properly engage an aperture formed in the track. Such movement of the seat assembly relative to the track is undesirable, as the seat assembly may move during use until the pin properly seats in an aperture of the track.